


wanting to learn

by wrennette



Series: sustained effort toward an ideal [3]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Blanket Permission, Gen, do not copy to another site
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-08
Updated: 2020-10-08
Packaged: 2021-03-07 20:08:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,011
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26903404
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/wrennette/pseuds/wrennette
Summary: Ponds takes the initiative. A Jedi (and clones!) crafting circle ficlet.
Series: sustained effort toward an ideal [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1961518
Comments: 22
Kudos: 148





	wanting to learn

Ponds hesitates at the door, but then sets his shoulders and steps within. General Windu had told him about the crafting circle, had all but invited him even though Windu himself doesn't participate in the group. There's a steady thumping rhythm, and when he looks over he sees a Jedi with facial markings sort of like General Unduli sitting at a broad wooden contraption wrapped with threads. Someone is singing, and Ponds looks over the group curiously.

Most of the gathered Jedi are either aged or visibly disabled. Almost exactly opposite the door sits a white haired human or near-human woman watching him with pale, perceptive eyes. Ponds dips his head in greeting, and she smiles, lifting one of her thin hands from her work to wave him over. The singing pauses for a moment, then continues. As he crosses the room, Ponds realizes the Jedi singing is far less human than Ponds had first guessed; his lower half - more than half, Ponds can now see - is serpentine. 

"Good evening, welcome to the crafting circle," the Jedi says. "I'm Jocasta Nu, she/her." 

"Oh, uh, good evening General," Ponds says. 

"Madame, if you _must_ use a title, but we're off the clock, so I'd much prefer Jocasta," she says, firm and clearly willing to be stubborn about this. 

"Madame," Ponds says with a slight smile. "I'm Ponds, he/him. General Windu told me about the crafting circle when we got your gifts, and uh, I was hoping I could come learn, since he's not much for this sort of thing."

"No, he's really not," Jocasta says with a fond warmth. "I'd be happy to teach you, if I know the craft you're wanting to learn. And if I don't know, I'll know who can teach you." 

Ponds nods, attention drifting when the song changes. A Jedi with a long, thin neck not unlike a Kaminoan's, but a very different sort of face, sings out in another language, and all the others sing back in tune. 

"This is knitting," Jocasta says, and shows him her pair of needles and ball of yarn, the blanket nearly covering her lap. "Crocheting uses less tools, but has a similar outcome." 

"That might be more my speed, at least to start with," Ponds admits. Jocasta nods, then dips her head to indicate a big blond in a hoverchair. An IV stand attached to the hoverchair snakes a line of fluid into their elbow. From their layers of soft green and blue robes, and blanket on their lap, Ponds guesses they've been let out of the medbay for the evening.

"That's Feemor, he's patient, and if you interrupt him he won't be bothered in the least," Jocasta directs. Ponds has a feeling she's withheld the Jedi's title so that Ponds will have to use his name. Sneaky. He likes that. 

"Thank you Madame," Ponds says, and bows. Jocasta smiles merrily, and dips her head and shoulders in turn. Ponds takes himself over to the blond Jedi, and friendly dark eyes look up when he's still a couple meters away. The Jedi smiles, but his hands don't stop working. 

"Hello," Feemor says, "I'm Feemor, and unless I miss my guess, Madame Nu's sent you over for a lesson in basic crochet."

"In one, sir," Ponds says, and it's impossible to resist the urge to smile in return. Feemor seems to emanate care and contentment, and just standing there loosens some of the tension in Ponds' shoulders. "I'm Ponds, I got a blanket that General Windu said was made here, and I want to learn how." 

"Pull up a chair," Feemor says, and then reaches into the bag on his lap and fishes around until he pulls out a pair of hooks, each a bit larger than a stylus, and two balls of yarn. "Hmmm, colour preference?" Feemor asks, and Ponds hesitates. He's tried in the past not to think too much about things like preferences. They'd never mattered to anyone but his siblings until the Jedi walked into their lives, and it still feels a bit like tempting fate to speak about such things aloud.

"The 91st has decided to mark our armour in a dark brown," Ponds says, and Feemor smiles.

"That's nice," Feemor says with a note of encouragement. "But what colour to _you_ want?" Ponds feels his cheeks heat, and feels a little transparent. The brown was good - it was a very Jedi colour, chosen in honour of having the former Master of the Order as their General. 

"What colour would you say is closest to General Windu's lightsaber?" Ponds asks, feeling terribly presumptuous. Feemor just smiles wider, and ducks his head to rummage through his bag again. He produces a hank of deep violet, and another of lavender. 

"How about one of these?" Feemor offers, and Ponds reaches out, touches. The darker coloured yarn feels a bit softer, a bit squashier, and while it still feels presumptuous, he selects that one. "Good choice," Feemor says. "Master Poof spun that a few years back from the shearing of our herds on Taanab. Master Allie chose the colour." At the first name, he nods to indicate the Jedi with the long neck and four arms. At the second, his gaze identifies a Tholothian Jedi who is working with a similar hooked tool, making small squares worked out from the center. 

"They're crocheting too?" Ponds asks, to be certain.

"She is," Feemor says. He takes up the other hook, and the lavender yarn Ponds passed over. "So. Crochet is just making fancy knots in a row," Feemor starts, and Ponds snorts, trying to hold in a laugh, then follows along as Feemor shows him how chain a foundation row, then do some of the more basic stitches, single and double and half-double crochet, how to work out from the center like General Allie is. Feemor says what she's working on is called a 'granny square' and that once she has enough, she'll assemble them in a blanket. Ponds thinks that sounds about manageable, and sets to work.

**Author's Note:**

> i'm @wrennette on tumblr, pillowfort, and dreamwidth, feel free to come say hi!


End file.
